The New Asus UL20A....

User manual and Korean ads are saying it doesn't have HDMI.

 

Based on the user guide, I don't expect it to have HDMI either; what I can't understand is how Asus came to that decision.

Care to share where you saw those Korean ads, Phil?

 

Oops I meant Taiwanese. Here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5328211#post5328211

 

Looks like Asus dropped the ball? Acer is including HDMI

I would have preferred the Asus, but no HDMI is a deal breaker. Now we're just waiting for the dual core 1410/1810 to show up stateside.

 

Searching for the UL20A, I found this polish distributor, but so far they only list the SU2300 version.

They have 2 different models; I believe the only difference is their color:
UL20A-2X055V and UL20A-2X055

In this other polish site it clearly says ' HDMI: nie', ' VGA Out: tak'.

 

It can only be a faint hope that a pricier product sku with SU7300 might have the HDMI but I'm not holding my breath.

For what its worth, they are also selling the SU2300 version in Singapore and the specs seem to match with the Polish site.

 

Hmm ... came across an eBay seller with a fair amount of specs for the machine if anyone is interested:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ASUS-U20A-B1-12...ov05?hash=item2a0160a3f4&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Kinda classy looking.

Still like the Ul30a's look better though (the black one, mind you).

 

That eBay listing lists hdmi and you can see it clearly in a couple of the pics. It also lists the res as 1280x800 and has a DVD drive internal. Is that correct?

 

It is correct, but it's not the same machine. The notebook in the ebay listing is the ASUS U20A, not the UL20A.

As you mentioned, it has a dvd drive but it's way more expensive. It's over 1000$ in Amazon.

 

That's what I get for posting so early in the morning when I should be asleep.



Sorry about that folks....

 

Whoa, might have to give this Asus a look at. It has alomost everything I want, even if it is around a grand.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

yes, the U20A is indeed the almost-perfect machine. I juz got it and posted some pix & thots here:-

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=388199&page=5

 

Asus hasn’t announced a netbook with NVIDIA ION graphics yet. But a Chinese site talks about a mysterious 1201N with a 12 inch display. Unfortunately its powered by an Intel Atom N270 CPU.

 

it might have HDMI after all... UL22XAS7300 ( UL20A )

 

A bit disappointing at 4 lbs. I guess that's because of the DVD drive.

 

Thanks for sharing this! Assuming this is the configuration shipped in the US, it looks like it nearly everything one can ask for -- HDMI, Bluetooth and 5600 mAh battery!

Now I'm back to drooling on this UL20A camp again, after switching over to the Acer 1810tz camp for a while . The Express Gate, 2 year warranty are surely Asus' advantages, though their overclocking may not be available on the UL20a (?)

 

You are talking about the U20a not the UL20a right?

You guys are making this thread hard to follow. I started to think the UL20a was going to weigh 4lbs and have a DVD.

 

It says in the post you quoted: "U20A".

It's actually quite simple: the L is for light.

U20A: DVD, HDMI, heavy.
UL20A: no DVD, no HDMI, light.

 

If they both come with a 5600mAh battery, how is Asus claim 2 more hours of battery life that what we are expecting from the Acer? (10hr vs 8hr.) I think they are going to be more similar than I originally thought.

 

I know, but I have to read carefully now. I'm lazy. I don't want to do that!

Also, looks like the L might get HDMI.

 

To check if the batteries are the same size Watt-hours should be compared, not amperage.

Unlikely in my opinion. Where did you gather that from?

 

Really? I though the L was UnLimited?

 

This battery stuff gets so confusing...

The HDMI post was right above the one I quoted.

 

No it's just something I made up for him to easily remember. L is for light.

 

Funny, because that's what I made up for myself weeks ago. My comment towards the U20a conversation was not because I didn't know the difference between the two models. It's because the models are so similar it's easy to mistake one for the other.

I saw "HDMI" in one post and got exited. Then I see "4lbs" & "dvd" in another post and was suddenly disappointed. It took a minute for the U20a to sink in.

I'm good now.

 

Okay, I think I got it now, but I'm not convinced.

Lets assume Asus claims are based on a power usage of 7.5 watts which would would be on the low end of the scale for these machines (no wifi, screen as low as it goes, USB ports disabled, etc.) At that rate of usage you would need a 75Wh battery to get 10hrs of use. To get that kind of capacity they would need to up the voltage to at least 13.2V (5600mAh/13.2V=~74Wh).

Does that sound right?

Could they be using a 13.2V or 14.8V 5600mAh battery? (I believe my C-Series Latitudes had 14.8V batteries.)

Either that or they've really cut down on the power consumption.

 

I don't know. All I know is that to know if batteries are to be compared, watt-hours should be compared.

Asus UL30A uses a 5600 mAh / 84 (!) WHr battery, that where it gets it's immense >10 hours battery life from.

Acer 1810T has a 5600 mAh / 63 Whr battery which gives >8 hours.

 

That's correct.
WHr is a unit of energy and mAh is a unit of charge.
Usually batteries are compared only based on their charge cause they provide the same voltage. That's the case when comparing batteries for the same device. In this case, apparently Asus and Acer use different voltages for their batteries.

The battery for the UL30 that Phil just posted, should have the following voltage: V = 84 Wh / 5600mAh = 15V which will probably be the 14.8V you were referring to.

 

Thanks, that makes sense.

 

Seems like our battery-life discussion has subsided.

If the UL20a doesn't have an HDMI port, it might be a DOA (Dead on arrival) machine in the US, at least.
So I'm thinking this posting by vitobcn is very important because it gives some hope that UL20a will be able to compete with Acer's 1810TZ, even if at a higher price.

 

Actually, the UL20a's selling in Singapore (actually being put up for auction after gotten as freebies) do not seem to have HDMI in them. Here's a posting that does not include HDMI in their spec. and there are many others if you googled.

http://shops.st701.com/shops/view/207248

So I think they'll have different models for UL20a, some with HDMI and some without HDMI. I can only hope (pray?) that they'll at least sell one with HDMI in the US, though

 

Just fyi that version he's re-selling is a bundled version with the ISP he signed up with. Not the retail version. It's not selling yet over there I think, the ISP just got supplied a special cut down configuration that would probably not be found in retail at launch but maybe later on.

 

Really -- a company as big as Asus will do a special sku for some ISP to do its promo with?

It does have a 1.2 Ghz dual core chip that isn't listed in the Asus U.S. announcement as any of the possible chips for the UL series, I think so its more likely that this is a configuration that'll eventually sell in the Asia Pacific (without the darned HDMI)!

 

Yes the su2300 was just released by intel weeks ago, probably hasn't hit the states yet or ever will.

About the HDMI, I'm leaning more towards the miss advertisement of that guy selling the UL20a. Yes our ISPs here do have cut down notebooks bundled, but they're all still possible retail skus. We just don't have them in retail here anyway cos nobody wants to buy the crappy skus. I have my doubts that a choice of hdmi is an sku, it's a waste of money to manufacture a separate casing with or without hdmi.

 

Went hunting for the new Asus UL20A in downtown Taipei today.
So surprised to find an SU7300 model after visiting maybe a dozen computer shops.

Feels good and looks great. But sad to say there is no HDMI port. And there doesn't seem to be any surface to add one later on.
The UL20A was wrapped in plastic. So the photos are not great.

 

Can you please tell me what the numbers "6" and "8" in the tag in the 2nd photo represent.

Thanks.

 

Well... I thought it might be 6-cell/ 8 hours. But no!
My wife says the "6" is related to 6-way warranty & repair coverage that is specific to Taiwan and China.
The "8" is a fast-start feature. Seems like you can access the web just eight seconds after pressing the start button.

 

Thanks.

I'm still hoping for 10hrs out of the battery. It's between this and the Acer. I'm not worried about the HDMI so the better battery/price combo wins for me.

 

the rumour of no hdmi was the reason i din buy this.. so now it's confirmed..

 

Yus9, thanks for this information and pictures. I'm trying to reconcile the UL20 you found with the post from vitobcn about the one advertised at:

http://tw.page.mall.yahoo.com/item/p0536791558

I can't read without google translate, but both these UL20's are from Taiwan. So would you say the online ad is just a mis-statement (about the HDMI being present)?

I really like the Asus over the Acer 1810tz, so maybe I'm still hoping against hope about having HDMI in the former

 

Looks like the exact same machine including part number, so I cannot explain.
The UL20A in my photos definitely did not have HDMI. As noted, there is no easy location for HDMI to be added without revising the design (which would make it a different model number). Wish the left and right side photos came out better to make it easier to believe.
____________________________________
Also look at these leaked details on two more 11.6" competitors for the 1810TZ...
The ultra-thin HP Pavilion dm1 with 5GB DDR3 max, weird!
And the Toshiba Satellite T110 (the T115 in the US). 11 hour battery & HDMI.
Photos plus at Slash~Gear
Exciting next couple of weeks, but making me crazy. :confused2:

 

Thanks for the find. Not that weird though, 1GB is probably soldered on. I hope it has HDMI.

 

How to get HDMI when there is no HDMI port?

Was excited over the UL20a until I found out no HDMI port. So then the only way you'd get HDMI out is to use a DIY ViDock attaching an external desktop video card to the mPCIe slot used by the wifi. That idea would be SO much easier if it had an expresscard slot.

I'm doing the same thing on a 12.1" HP 2510P.. 3dmark06=5340 too. See sig if interested.

 

I was looking for more info about the UL20A and found this thread. It's in chinese but google translator is our friend

The guy seems to have the SU7300 version and as yus9 pointed out, it does not have HDMI.

I attached the pictures from that thread.
In the last one, you can see the Vista scores:

Processor: 4.5
Memory: 4.7
Graphics: 3.5
Gaming graphics: 3.6
Hard drive: 5.6​

Also, the weight seems to be 1.55 Kg.

At this point, I'm tired of waiting for a dual core machine with a 11.6/12" screen, to come out in the US. Many systems should arrive (Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Toshiba) but nothing yet...

I guess we are out of luck until Windows 7 is out :-(

 

For native HDMI in an equivalent package, may need to look at the Samsung X120:

11.6" Samsung X120 SU7300-1.3 4Gb 160GB HDMI/VGA 1.36/4-cell

Claim 9hrs out of the 6-cell battery

 

Meanwhile, the UL50 has made its way to Amazon, over the last few days I think. Its still actually not listed in Asus USA website (the UL30 is the only series listed among the UL series).

http://www.amazon.com/UL50Ag-A1-Lig...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1254638117&sr=8-1

It is interesting how models from Toshiba, Samsung, Acer, Dell -- virtually every other competitor to the UL20 has HDMI.

 

Interesting chart at the NoteBookJournal link you mentioned.
Compares actual performance of Intel SU9300, SU7300, SU3500, & Atom Z530 CPUs.

 

Pretty impressive battery power considering the real estate of that screen--

 

What it compares are the overall Passmark ratings, which also includes hard drive, memory and graphics performance.

To compare the CPUs only Passmark CPU should be run.

In Vista it will look something like this:

SU9400 950
SU7300 900
SU4100 850
SU3500 490
Z530/N270 300

Unfortunately Passmark's online database can not be trusted because Windows 7, Vista and XP scores are mixed.

 

If the no HDMI piece is confirmed, then the Samsung, Acer and others will all be more attractive. It doesn't seem logical that Asus would leave out HDMI while everyone else is including it.